Qualcomm alleges breach of patent and licensing agreement Texas Instruments (TI) said Monday that it plans to “vigorously” contest a lawsuit rival Qualcomm Inc. filed against it, alleging breach of a patent and licensing agreement involving cell phone chip technology.TI said Monday that it has reviewed the complaint and considers it “without merit.” Furthermore, the Dallas, Texas, chip maker alleged that Qualcomm’s suit was motivated by TI’s recent announcement that it would begin sampling CDMA2000 1X chips to customers. CDMA, or code division multiple access, is a digital wireless technology originally developed by Qualcomm which converts speech into digital information which is then transmitted as a radio signal over a wireless network.In May, TI said it would offer a CDMA2000 1X chipset in conjunction with STMicroelectronics NV (ST), based on technology jointly developed with Nokia Corp. “Qualcomm has enjoyed many years of selling CDMA chips against little or no competition. TI intends to establish this market as a level playing field in which open competition prevails and consumers benefit,” TI Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel Joseph F. Hubach said in a statement released Monday.“Qualcomm’s legal maneuvers will not distract us from pursuing the CDMA market,” Hubach added.Qualcomm representatives in Europe were not immediately available to comment on TI’s statement or provide further details of its suit. Software Development